


You Did Good, Child

by Sinelaborenihil



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Father-Daughter Relationship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24962926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinelaborenihil/pseuds/Sinelaborenihil
Summary: This is a brief fic detailing how I imagine David Anderson meeting the woman who would eventually grow up to be Commander Shepard.
Relationships: Female Shepard & David Anderson
Kudos: 4





	You Did Good, Child

**Author's Note:**

> Anderson and Shepard's relationship always seemed so close to me, I wanted to have it start a little bit before the game does with a chance meeting that shows where Shepard started and just how far she had to go to become the hero everyone knows.

David Anderson looked down at his omnitool and grinned at the message that he had received. 

_It’s been too long, David. Looking forward to coffee today. See you at 1800 at that place with the cat! Kahlee_

It had been too long. But that was military life for you. You went where you were sent and hoped that occasionally your shore leaves lined up. And finally they had. Though they had decided not to pursue a romantic relationship, David counted Kahlee as one of his closest friends and he was grateful for the opportunity to see her again. He looked around the little cafe that she had been so taken with the last time they were on Earth and had to smile. It felt so different from the cold sterility of a starship or the overwhelming beauty of the Citadel. It was just...homey. It smelled of coffee and croissants and he found himself feeling grateful in that moment that he had such a place as Earth to come home to. And if he was a little early to meet Kahlee, well, on his fancy Staff Lieutenant salary he could afford to buy an extra coffee and extranet access.  


“Excuse me, sir,” a female voice said, startling him out of his reverie. He looked over to see a girl who looked like she hadn’t yet reached her teens. She had skin roughly the same shade as his and her dark curls were up in two pigtails with brightly colored beads at the end of them. She was wearing a pale pink dress with a grungy coat over it. She held up a fifty-credit chit. “I think that you dropped this, when you paid for your coffee?” He checked his wallet, and sure enough, the chit was missing.  


“Thank you, child,” he said, smiling at her. “That was a very honest thing that you did.”  


She smiled back at him, her eyes widening as she took in his uniform. “Are you an Alliance Officer, sir?”  


He nodded. “I am!” He was about to tell her his rank when she held up a hand in that commanding way that only children can.  


“Wait!” she said. “I bet I can guess!” She frowned as she looked at him, her dark eyes narrowing. “First Lieutenant!” she said after a moment.  


He chuckled. “You’re close,” he said gently. “It’s Staff Lieutenant, actually. David Anderson, at your service.”  


She frowned, but stuck her hand out to shake. “Nice to meet you, Staff Lieutenant David Anderson,” she said solemnly. “My name’s Aziza, but everyone just calls me Zizi.”  


“It’s nice to meet you, Zizi,” he said, shaking her hand. “Where are your parents?”  


She sighed. “At work,” she said, pulling a face. “My older brother is supposed to come and get me when he gets out of class. I like it here. The cat doesn’t bite.” David took in the slightly worn edges of her coat and shoes and had a hunch that she was probably not from one of the affluent local families.  


“Here,” he said with a smile. “Honest pay for honest work. You should keep this,” he said, handing her the credit chit. She looked at him wide eyed and took it back.  


“Are you sure, sir?” she asked.  


He nodded. “Get something to eat,” he said. He leaned in and brought his hand up for a conspiratorial whisper. “Though maybe not here, the cat charges an arm and a leg.”  


She giggled then jumped when something in her backpack pinged. “That’s my brother,” she said with a guilty look. “I have to go.”  


“It’s all right,” he said. “Take care, Zizi.”  


She nodded, hoisting her backpack up on her shoulder. “Thank you, David,” she said with a grin. Then she scurried out of the coffee shop. He stared after her for a few minutes, feeling a pang of sadness. You would think that with all the leaps in technology, somewhere along the way the galaxy would have found a way to make sure that people weren’t left to struggle. He wished he’d given her his information. She seemed like a bright kid. The alliance could always use good, honest people.  


David sighed and shook his head with a smile. He was an old softie at thirty-two. He realized that he had better check his bank balance. Sure, things were better now that he was a Staff Lieutenant, but he hadn’t budgeted to give away fifty credits. He wanted to make sure that he could still show Kahlee a nice evening.  


He knew that he wasn’t a rich man, but he wasn’t prepared to see the figure in his account be quite _that_ low. His heart was beating fast in his chest as he stared at the numbers. How was that even possible? He took a deep breath to steady himself and noted that there had been a sizeable withdrawal only moments before. But how was that possible? He had been sitting here in the cafe then.  


The interface suggested that it was a local withdrawal, which meant it had happened somewhere in the vicinity. Somehow, he had been hacked. He glanced at the clock in the omnitool. He had time before Kahlee was due. Perhaps enough time to get to the bottom of what happened before he had to suggest they go Dutch on a single coffee. He rose and went outside, still looking at his omnitool. The alliance traced big transactions pretty closely and through his omnitool he could see that whoever had hacked him was still close by. He followed the pings on his omnitool and they led him down an alleyway and into a dark, ill-lit tunnel. He froze when he heard a female voice cursing.  


“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” There was a sound of frantic typing and then, suddenly, his omnitool buzzed. He glanced down and saw a deposit of almost the entirety of the amount that he’d lost, minus about two hundred credits. It was still a lot, but it wasn’t “entirety of his life savings” a lot and he frowned, confused.  


“I’m sorry, David,” the voice said sadly. A figure emerged from a little duct area set into the tunnel and froze when it saw him. “Well, shit,” the figure said.  


David walked forward, holding up his omnitool’s flashlight. It illuminated the little girl he’d met at the cafe, though she had taken out her pigtails and stuffed her shabby coat into her backpack. She’d traded the dress for dark cargo pants and a cutoff tshirt that revealed that she was not quite as young as he’d thought her to be.  


“You’re good, Zizi,” he said and heard the trace of bitterness in his voice.  


She held up her hands, her eyes wide and panicky. “David, I-I’m sorry!”  


“Save it,” he replied.  


“I gave you your money back!” she said, taking a step back and looking around like she was going to bolt. “Most of it. I didn’t mean to take that much. My hands were shaking and I hit the wrong number!”  


He raised an eyebrow. “Why did you give me the money back?” he asked. “Guilty conscience?”  


She shrugged a shoulder. “You weren’t a dick to me,” she said a little sullenly. “Usually people are. And I try not to take too much from people anyway. It’s greedy and stupid.”  


“Where did you get the program?” he asked. “It’s good if it can get past Alliance firewalls.”  


She snorted. “It’s not the firewalls on the Alliance side,” she said. “It’s the shitty omnitools that they give you guys. It’s not like it’s a Turian bank, or something. And I didn’t get it anywhere. It’s mine. I made it.”  


He paused, considering. It was an impressive feat, if she was telling the truth. “You seem a little young to be hacking into Alliance omnitools,” he said.  


“I’m fifteen,” she said. “Not _that_ young. Not as young as you thought I was.”  


He inclined his head. He had to admit, he was intrigued. If she was telling the truth, she had the makings of a talented engineer. They were prized for their decryption and electronics skills, and she clearly had both. “Ever thought about joining up?” he asked.  


“Fifteen,” she said again. “I can’t. Not yet. It isn’t like the old days where I could just forge a birth certificate. Those alliance doctors know stuff.”  


“We have youth programs-”  


“Need parental consent,” she said, shaking her head. “No parents.”  


“So you’ve thought about it,” he said.  


“Look, what poor kid do you know that _hasn’t_ thought about joining the easy meal ticket train?” she said bitterly. “But I can’t yet and I...I got people to look after, all right? So I make ends meet where I can, I get protection where I can.”  


“Protection,” David said. “You’re in a gang?”  


“Everyone on the street is in a gang or dead,” she replied. “And when you’re a girl on the street and you want to do something other than turn tricks or be forced by some creep to turn tricks for him and his men...you learn a skill. I’m good with electronics. And this program was supposed to be my big chance to impress Lance. It was going well until…” she made a vague gesture in his direction.  


“What will happen to you?” David asked, concerned despite himself. “If you come back without the money?”  


She shrugged. “I’ve made enough money in the past few weeks that it should...be ok,” she said. “As long as he doesn’t look and see I returned your money to you. I’ll have to scrub that from the system.” She looked up at him. “Of course none of that matters if you turn me in,” she said. “I’m young, they won’t keep me for long, then Lance will definitely kill me. Or worse.”  


She was looking at him frankly, no trace of her earlier manipulation. It was almost heartbreaking how casually she was talking about dying. She was too young to be thinking that way.  


“I won’t,” he said, deciding in that moment. “If you do three things for me.”  


She stared at him wide-eyed and this time he was pretty sure the expression was genuine. “All right,” she said cautiously. “Name your price, David.”  


“One, you enlist in the Alliance as soon as you are eighteen,” he said. “We need people with your brains.”  


She nodded. “If I live that long,” she said wryly. “Accepted. Next?”  


“Give me the program you used to steal from me,” he said levelly. “You’re a clever girl, I am sure you have a backup and if you don’t, I’m sure it won’t take you long to redo it, but if Alliance systems are that easy to hack, we need to handle it. It could easily put people’s lives at risk.”  


“I sent a copy to some higher up when I made it,” she said, sounding exasperated. “I’m not stupid, David. I don’t want some fucking Batarian bringing the Systems Alliance down because of something I did. Plus...I thought sending it along would give me a little leverage if I got caught.”  


“Smart,” David said, impresseed. Do you remember who?” David asked.  


“Johnathan...John... something,” she said. “Can I pull it up?”  


He nodded cautiously and she pulled out the little computer that she’d obviously used to hack him and began to poke at the screen.  


“Not Jon Grissom?” he asked. “Rear Admiral Jon Grissom?”  


“That’s the guy!” she said, not looking up. “I can’t blame him if he didn’t take it seriously, I guess,” she said. “My email address is kinda...obscure. ZS07201969@terra.earth. He probably thought I was sending him a Fornax subscription or something.”  


“Do you need my email?” he asked, then felt kind of silly.  


She grinned at him and he saw a streak of wild cockiness flash for just a moment. “Staff Lieutenant David Anderson, DAnderson@sysalinavy.mil? That sound about right?”  


“All right, all right,” he said with a grudging smile.  


She made a final tap and David felt his omnitool ping again. A new email had been diverted to his spam folder.  


He made sure to flag it and forwarded it right away to the admiral. “ZS and the date of the Luna Landing,” he said. “You have a thing for space, Zizi?”  


“Anything is better than this,” she said, putting her computer away. “Last thing, David. And hurry, I gotta get back before someone comes looking for me.”  


“What’s your name?” he asked. “I’m going to be checking on you.”  


“I keep my promises!” she said, temper flaring.  


He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond. 

“Aziza,” she said. “That was true. No one calls me Zizi though, they just call me Zi.”  


“Last name?” he pressed.  


She sighed. “Shepard.”  


####  


At the beginning of the year 2172 Lieutenant Commander David Anderson set up an alert in the Alliance recruitment files. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for officers to do when they had someone that they wanted to keep an eye on. The first few months of the year passed and he found himself growing a little disappointed. However on April 11th there was a ping on his omnitool.  


_Serviceman 3rd Class Aziza Shepard Enlisted Date: April 11th, 2172. DOB: April 11th, 2154._  


David leaned back in his chair. She’d enlisted on her birthday. His omnitool pinged again and he saw a familiar email address. ZS07201969@terra.earth

_Dear David,_

_I guess I should say Dear Lieutenant Commander Anderson and then somehow put a salute in there. So…**salute** This is Zizi, if you don’t remember. I told you I keep my promises. This email address is going to self-destruct once I send this email. Just kidding. Kind of. But I won’t be using it anymore. I don’t have to dream about Luna anymore, Sir. I get to go. Thank you for all you did for me and for telling the recruitment folks to keep an eye out for me. It made things easier. I hope that one day I can repay your faith in me by making you proud._

_Sincerely,_  
_Serviceman 3rd Class Aziza Shepard_  
_AShepard@sysalinavy.mil._

In the email there was a picture of Aziza, her curls shaved off, in a uniform giving him a thumbs up. He chuckled and after a moments consideration, saved the picture to his personal files. His friends had often said he was too sentimental, but he couldn’t help but feel that there was something special about the young woman. He had no idea exactly how right he would be.  


He kept an eye on her career over the years, watching as she steadily moved up the ranks. She sent him letters occasionally and he was pleased to see that she seemed to be adjusting well to military life. He had privately toasted to her when she was accepted to OTS. He had tried to keep a good amount of distance between them, not wanting his own career to seem to be helping hers along. Not that she seemed to need his help. But when she’d sent him an invitation to her OTS graduation, he couldn’t turn it down. Invitations to the on-site graduation were hard to come by and he knew she didn’t have a family. He had clapped as hard as anyone when she walked across the stage and when the ceremony was over he sought her out.  


She was surrounded by a crowd of friends when he caught sight of her and when she saw him she grinned and excused herself politely. She hurried over to him and came to attention, her pale brown eyes sparkling. “Sir!”  


David couldn’t help but smile as he reached out to shake her hand heartily. “Congratulations, Zi!” he said.  


“It was kind of you to come to graduation, sir,” she said, blushing.  


“Thank you for the invitation,” he said. “Barring active duty, I wouldn’t have missed it. I always knew that the Alliance would be a good fit for you, but that you’d turn out to be Earth’s very own mustang...damn. You should be proud.”  


Her chin jerked up and he saw some of the fire he’d seen back on Earth. “I am, sir,” she said with a little nod, the twinkle in her eye telling him that his breach of protocol hadn’t gone unnoticed.”  


“Zi!” a handsome, blond young man called to her. She turned to look at him and he blanched when he saw Anderson and snapped to attention.  


“I should let you enjoy yourself,” David said, smiling down at her. “You’re on leave now, I presume?”  


She nodded, grinning. “Headed to Elysium for some R&R,” she said. “Sir.”  


“Well, you’ve earned it,” he replied. “Maybe when you’re back we can catch up. It’s been a few years.”  


“Really sir?” she asked, giving him the wide-eyed look he remembered from when he said he wasn’t going to turn her in.  


“Yes, Zi,” he said, extending his hand.  


She shook it and he thought that he saw her eyes get a little bit shiny before she snapped to attention again. He chuckled. “Dismissed, Lieutenant,” he said.  


“Aye, sir!” she said, unable to keep a straight face. Then she hurried back over to her friends, giving him one last glance over her shoulder before she left.  


####  


Elysium was under attack by Batarian pirates and there was nothing David could do about it until they got there. He was watching the news vids like everyone else, trying to parse the bits and pieces of information that the people on the ground had managed to get out. The first day it had been only brief uploads from the security cameras showing a massive pirate fleet. Then most of the cameras had gone online shortly after the pirates made landfall and the few remaining ones were showing little but frightened colonists. But the last two days had been nothing but silence. He knew that the Agincourt was nearby and doing what it could, but they needed backup.  


David tried not to pace. They were on their way. He would have been on edge under normal circumstances anyway, pirate raids always got ugly, especially Batarian ones. He remembered all too well the Rape of Mindoir. But if he was honest with himself, a portion of his anxiety was due to the fact that he knew that Shepard was on Elysium following her graduation. She was a hell of a soldier, she had to be to have gone from enlisted to officer, but this would have been a rough exercise for even an experienced officer.  


There was a burst of static from the comm station near him and David jumped. The comm officer was calm, however, and pushed a few buttons. “This is the SSV Tokyo. I didn’t catch that. What is your status?”  


The static blipped in and out and David felt a wash of frustration. He turned away, scrubbing his hands through his hair.  


“I read you,” the comm officer said, speaking more quietly. “Am I speaking to Alliance personnel?” David whirled around, staring at the comm officer. She was nodding along to the static.  


More static followed, but this time David caught on. Long burst. Short burst. Long burst. Short burst. Memories from his basic training flooded his brain. Dash. Dot. Dash. Dot. C. Correct.  


“Can you give me your service number?” There was a long pause, then a long series of static bursts that were too fast for David to parse. The comm officer seemed nonplussed however. “5923-Alpha Charlie-2826,” she said, plugging the information into her omni-tool. “Second Lieutenant Shepard, are you in a secure location?”  


David felt his eyes widen. It was her? How was that even possible? How had she found a comm?  


Long burst of static. Short burst of static. N. No.  


The static burst through again. Short. Short. Short. Long. Long. Long. Short. Short. Short. S.O.S.  


“I read you, Shepard,” the comm officer said calmly. “I need you to find a secure location and establish a com line.”  


There was a long pause. Then Short. Long. Long. Long. Short. Long. W.C. Wilco. Then the comm went dead.  


David felt his heart pounding as he clapped the comm officer on the shoulder. “Excellent work Lieutenant…?”  


“Jeong, Sir,” she said.  


“Lieutenant Jeong, please inform me if you hear anything else,” David said.  


“Right away, sir!” she replied before turning back to her station.  


We’re coming, Shepard. David thought.  


####  


It was a full thirty-six hours before they heard anything from Elysium again, but by this time they were at least close to the garden world. Early in the morning a network of security cameras came online and the picture they painted wasn’t nearly as bad as anyone would have expected. They showed frightened, but alive colonists holed up in safe rooms, batarian and human pirates patrolling, and a choke point that blueprints of the colony showed led down to where the civilians were hiding. Crates had been piled up to create a blockade and there was a YMIR mech surrounded by the collapsed forms of other mechs shooting at the pirates. In the camera they could see a human figure popping out of cover occasionally to fire off shots at the pirates. When the pirates would begin to press closer the person would do something on their omni-tool and the batarians would turn, alarmed. There would be gunfire and mechs could be seen in the background, harrying the pirates. It was clear that the person manning the barricade was all that was between the pirates and the civilians, and David would have been lying if he said that it hadn’t surprised him to learn that it was none other than Aziza Shepard.  


The Alliance easily defeated the pirate blockade once they arrived, but David hadn’t been given permission to go groundside. He was the XO of the Tokyo, which meant he was needed on board during the fight and the subsequent cleanup. However, once the planet was secured and the last of the pirates had been killed or taken into custody, David requested leave to go to Arcturus Station, where the wounded Alliance personnel had been taken. His captain had granted it and David took the first shuttle available to the formidable space station. It didn’t take him long to make his way to the medical bay and he slowed down as he approached what he knew to be Zi’s room. He nodded to the nurse sitting at the nurses station and flashed his credentials. She inclined her head to him and hit a series of buttons, opening the door next to him. He looked into the room and felt a curious ache in his chest. Aziza was there, hooked up to several beeping machines. Her left eye was swollen shut and every bit of skin that was showing was covered in bruises.  


Her good eye widened as he walked in and she grinned at him. “David!” She shook her head like a dog shaking off water. “That is...Commander Anderson! What are you doing here?”  


David pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. “I wanted to check on the alliance’s newest hero,” he said with a smile.  


She blushed. “You didn’t have to do that, sir,” she said. “But it means a lot to me that you’re here.”  


He reached out and took her hand, giving it what he hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “That was an incredible thing that you did, Zi,” he said quietly. “The doctors say you’re going to make a full recovery, but how are you holding up?”  


She looked away from him and for just a second David saw a flash of the girl he’d met back on Earth. She looked frightened and exhausted. “I’m tired,” she said. “Really tired. But it’s hard to sleep once the meds wear off. I keep waking up thinking that I’ve fallen asleep on Elysium and everyone’s going to die or-or worse because I couldn’t hold the line.” She gave a little chuckle and shrugged her shoulder with a wince. “Almost five days with no sleep will mess you up, I guess.”  


David nodded, but didn’t speak, wanting her to have the space to talk if she wanted.  


“I keep expecting to wake up on a Batarian slave ship,” she said after a few quiet moments. “There were so many of them,” she said softly. Her good eye teared up. “They got Liam,” she said. “The things that they did to him…” She looked up at him. “They made sure that we could hear him scream. And when they realized that I was a woman...Fuck…”  


“I’m sorry, Zi,” he said. “That you had to experience all of that.”  


She swiped angrily at her eyes. “I know a lot of people have experienced worse,” she said. “I just…”  


“It isn’t a competition, Zi,” David said gently. “Trauma is trauma.”  


She sniffled and for a moment she looked so young that David almost reached out and hugged her.  


“I was scared, David,” she said after a few moments. “Really fucking scared. I still am. I feel like I’m still there.They-they tell me that I’m getting the Star of Terra but I don’t deserve it. I was terrified and now I can barely sleep and I wasn’t able to save Liam and I-”  


“Breathe child,” David said gently, surprising himself with the endearment. “It won’t feel like it for awhile, hell, it may never really feel like it, but trust me when I tell you that you earned the Star of Terra.”  


“People died, David. Colonists, Liam...I didn’t save everyone,” she said brokenly.  


“You rarely will,” he said gently. “‘You can do everything right and still lose’, Zi. That quote is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten.”  


“If I lost, then I didn’t do everything right,” she said stubbornly.  


“But you didn’t lose,” he replied, deciding now wasn’t the time to press the lesson. “You won. You saved the colony. Hacking and repurposing their own YMIR mechs against them was brilliant, by the way.”  


She finally gave him the ghost of a smile. “Mechs are easy,” she said with a trace of her usual confidence.  


David gave an exaggerated snort. “For you, maybe.” He grew serious and squeezed her hand. “Zi, the next few weeks are going to feel surreal. But what’s important is that you did something incredible and survived to tell the tale.”  


She squeezed back, her dark eyes wide. “David...I’m not a hero,” she said quietly. “I’m just trash from Earth. If you hadn’t spoken up for me I doubt-”  


“You’re wrong,” David said immediately. He could see where her train of thought was taking her. “Do you want to know what I’ve done for your career, Zi? I told the recruiters to let me know when you signed up.”  


She watched him expectantly for a few seconds. “And?” she asked.  


“And nothing,” he replied. “That’s all I ever did. Everything that you’ve achieved, it’s all on you.”  


She stared at him and then, to his chagrin, her lower lip wobbled just a little bit. “You didn’t turn me in,” she whispered. “You believed that I could be more than a banger or a banger’s whore. That’s something.”  


He shrugged one shoulder. “Well, you’ve got me there. I always knew that you were more than that. But if you’re not convinced, I can show you the script I ran to let me know when you enlisted. I haven’t done anything for you. In fact, I’ve done the best that I can to stay the hell away from your career.”  


She flinched a little and David inwardly cursed himself. He gave her hand another gentle squeeze and was heartened when she squeezed back. “I always knew that you’d do something special, Shepard,” he said. “I never wanted my own career to take away from your potential.”  


“So you aren’t ashamed of me?” she asked in a small voice.  


He stared at her and felt his stomach sink. “What?”  


She gave a sad little shrug. “I...I wondered. I never heard too much from you. I just...I thought...given my background...that you didn’t want to be associated with me..-”  


“No,” he said gently. “Zi, I promise you...any distance I kept was to protect your career and reputation...that’s all. An older male officer, a younger female one...it’s an old story and one I didn’t want you to get caught up in.”  


She blinked at him. “Oh,” she said, her eyes suddenly widening. “I-I should have thought of that.” She pulled her hand back. “I...I guess growing up the way I did, you get a sense for people, you know? I never figured you for that type so it didn’t ping on my radar the way it should have.” She flinched. “And I’ve been calling you ‘David’. Fuck.”  


He chuckled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “You’ve been the soul of propriety where it matters,” he said. “Just something to think about going forward.” He grew serious. “I’ve never been ashamed of you, Zi. Quite the opposite.”  


“Even though I stole from you?” she asked with a tiny smile.  


He smiled wryly. “As I recall, you gave most of it back.”  


She squirmed a little and winced with pain. “You know I pickpocketed that credit chit you ‘dropped’ off of you, right? Establishing trust and all that.” She looked down. “I'm glad I'm not that person anymore,” she said fiercely.  


He was surprised, but suddenly a memory jumped out at him. “I found a fifty credit chit in my dress blues after your graduation,” he said, his eyes widening.  


She gave a little half smile. “I wanted to make it right,” she said softly. “And it's nice to know that I'm not totally rusty.”  


He couldn't help but let out a real roar of laughter. “You never cease to surprise me, Zi,” he said.  


“In better ways now, I hope,” she replied.  


He nodded, noting that she was suppressing a yawn. “I'm going to call the nurse,” he said gently. “You need to sleep.”  


For just a moment he caught another glimpse of the frightened girl he'd met on Earth before the shutters came down and she gritted her teeth. “I'm ok,” she said.  


“The hell you are,” David replied, rising and getting the nurse's attention.  


“David?” Shepard asked. “Will you... Will you stay? Just tonight. Just so I can…. So I don't… Go back?”  


His heart about broke as he nodded and settled back down next to her bed. He took her hand as the nurse injected something into Shepard’s IV. “Sleep well, child,” he said softly, watching her eyes flutter closed. “You did good.”  


####  


The next day after a nap, a change of clothes, and another visit to a much more alert Shepard David went searching for a drink. He found one of the officer’s bars and sent a message to Steven inviting him to meet. It didn’t take Captain Hackett long to join him and the two men clasped hands warmly.  


“So,” Hackett said once they were ensconced in a booth with a stiff drink. “How is the Alliance’s newest hero?”  


David raised an eyebrow at his old friend.  


Hackett chuckled at his surprise. “Not much happens here that I don’t know about, David,” he said. The smile faded as he quickly grew serious. “I have to ask, David...there’s scuttlebutt…”  


David sighed and took a sip of his drink. “My relationship with Second Lieutenant Shepard is a professional one, Steven.”  


“First Lieutenant, actually,” Hackett said with a smile. “So, she’s not a long-lost daughter from a ill-advised teenaged fling?”  


David gawked at his friend for a few long seconds before letting out a shocked bark of laughter. “ _That’s_ the scuttlebutt? I _am_ getting old.”  


Steven snorted. “Anyone who knows you knows that you’re in love with Kahlee, David,” he said. “And the ones who don’t know that know that you aren’t the kind of officer to take advantage like that. You’re no Gregory Sachs.”  


David felt his lip curling at the mention of their old classmate. The man was a senator now and he was grateful that he no longer had to deal with him. “Long-lost daughter, eh?” he said.  


“You have to admit, you can see the resemblance,” Steven said with a smile.  


David nodded. He couldn’t argue it. Their skin was close to the same color, they had the same hair, similar eyes, and if he was honest with himself, long-lost daughter probably came the closest to describing how he felt about Zi. “I could do worse for a daughter,” he said with a chuckle. “First lieutenant already? Damn. That would make any father proud.” He grew serious. “Truthfully, Steven, if that’s the scuttlebutt, it could be a lot worse. God knows that I’ve tried to stay out of Z-Shepard’s career as best I can.” He shook his head, his mind suddenly back in the hospital room. “She asked if I was ashamed of her.”  


“Why would she ask that?” Steven asked.  


David cursed himself inwardly. He was exhausted if he was slipping up like that. “It has to do with how we met, Steven. Short story. I met her while I was on leave on Earth oh...seven years ago? I saw her...potential as an engineer and made her promise to join the Alliance when she was old enough.”  


“So why would you be ashamed of her?” Steven asked, his pale eyes intent.  


David shrugged. “Steven, she was an Earthborn orphan. You of all people know what that means. I thought she could be more with us than she could be there.”  


Steven was nodding. “Fair enough. Well, I just wanted to bring it to your attention, David. You’re my friend and Shepard, well, I agree about her potential. It would be a shame if rumors got in the way of it.” His expression soften fractionally. “I can tell you care about her, David,” he said quietly. “And I know you. You are, frankly, terrible at hiding when you care about someone. Just be smart is all I ask.” He raised his glass. “I’d like both of us to be fat old Admirals together one day.”  


“God forbid!” David laughed, raising his own glass. “I hear you, Steven,” he promised after they touched their glasses together. “I promise I’ll do my best.”  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope that you enjoyed! I know that I played a little bit fast and loose with the tech, but I tried to keep the timeline and characterization consistent with canon. Anderson is one of my favorite video game characters ever and it was fun to get inside his head for a little bit. <3


End file.
